#10

I’ve been using reaper for years, but only last week tracked my modular from it. It got tiresome pretty early to

  1. insert track
  2. rename track
  3. change input to midi, correct device
  4. send to correct channel, correct device
  5. arm record

A quick search and I discovered track templates

Today i spend 10 mins setting up TouchOSC to control reaper from iPad, don’t think I’ll use it much, but it’s cool…

1 Like
#11

Track templates are cool. I use them with plugins too, so if I want 808 kit it’s quick to just insert a template with Battery already in there with the right sample set, and VMR too because I probably want that too to thicken up the sound. FX chains haven’t really found their way into my workflow, but track and project templates for sure.

1 Like
#12

You can double click on the media item and change the time stretching algorithm and some properties, as well. It’s not terribly deep but there are lots of combinations to try out. I’ve been experimenting with making iterative passes on time stretched items recently and it’s quite interesting.

2 Likes
#13

A day where you learn something new is a good day :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#14

I was thinking about using my arc as a set of fine grained controls in Reaper, but does anyone know of a good method to get Reaper to listen to it?
Do I have to set up a max patch that will connect to my arc and send OSC messages on to Reaper? I was hoping there would be a more direct solution solution.
Mapping to the controls in reaper is not a problem, I’ve been using the CSI with decent succes, it’s more a question of getting reaper to listen to the arc. Has anyone been doing this?

If not, can anyone point me in the direction of where to look, if i should make a solution to this? I haven’t ventured beyond the lua-scripting yet, but I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.

#15

here’s a Reaper pro tip - switch to Bitwig)

I’ve been using Reaper since version 3.
For years and years Reaper devs couldn’t make all the fonts to scale. For example, the fx browser stays super tiny no matter what, and the only somewhat of a fix is to edit the exe file with the process hacker.

Too many menues with too many points in those menues, too many options in the setup, weak design (both in taste and function).

Reaper is okay for recording and mixing, but as creative daw - no, its not worth the time.

1 Like
#16

Calling malarkey on that. Reaper is an absurdly amazing value for the money, and one should know better than to blame their tools.

If I wanted to roll all opinionated like that I’d tell you that you’re wasting your time with Bitwig and there’s no true “creative DAW” aside from Maschine. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#17

Agreed on value for money, but I don’t blame anything at all. The reality is that all those problems I’ve mentioned are actually there and nothing was done to make it at least a bit more usable, the fonts and gray backgrounds for text being probably the biggest issues.
And the saddest part is that its not rocket science to fix, yet they don’t care.

#18

Reaper can be a creative tool if you know how to be creative with it. Their UI can be better. Those points you made about the interface is very true but they don’t relate to the conclusion that you draw and that seems a bit unfair imho.

2 Likes
#19

anyhow, here’s the hack:

  1. install the Resource Hacker from Angus Johnson.
  2. open reaper.exe in the Resource Hacker, choose the “Dialog” folder.
  3. go to “Action” menu, click “Save [Dialog] group to an RC file”.
  4. open the file we just saved with a notepad, replace all “FONT 8” lines to “FONT 10” and save the file (its easier to replace all of them and 10 is a decent option)
  5. open the modified rc file in the Resource Hacker, compile it via “Action” menu and “Compile Script”, then save as RES file.
  6. open reaper.exe in the Resource Hacker once again, click “Action/Add from resource file”, choose a RES file from step 5, then choose “Overwrite” and “Check all”, then click “Import”.
  7. Save our modified reaper.exe.
1 Like
#20

For someone like me for whom the Ableton/Bitwig workflow never worked (years of trying) for my particular music, who hates using a mouse/trackpad, and found themselves cursing at the inability to customize ProTools/Logic to do what I want it to do, Reaper has been a dream come true. But I don’t think of it as a DAW that works well as-is. I think of it as a toolset to build one’s OWN DAW that primarily runs on keyboard commands, external controllers, custom (DIY and community-sourced) add-ons. My config is now very close to the DAW of my dreams. Yeah, there are unchangeable interface atrocities, but at least the interface doesn’t impose a mood or style that distracts me. And once I’ve memorized where things are and set up shortcuts and actions to navigate the way I want to, I don’t even notice it.
It did require a pretty huge time investment to get to this point. If it was the cost of ProTools HD/Ultimate, which I now only have to deal with on other people’s systems, I’d complain about that. It isn’t.
I can, however, see how some types of sound/music making would fit better with the Bitwig way of things. And there is nothing like encountering a tool that meshes with your needs right out of the box. I went through all of the DAWs, though, and none did. Reaper at least let me build something close.

4 Likes
#21

This Reaper 6 video was especially helpful to me. It’s about setting up project directory structure defaults. One can configure things however they’d like, but I went with the layout Kenny suggests because it’s inline with the way I’d like to do things.

Each new project gets a folder, project audio goes into a subfolder called audio, peak files into a “peaks” folder inside the audio folder.

\ NewProject
|- NewProject.rpp
|- \ Audio
|-- file_name_01_date.wav
|-- file_name_02_date.wav
|- \ \ Peaks
|---- file_name_01_date.rpk
|---- file_name_02_date.rpk
3 Likes
#22

I use Reaper like a glorified tape recorder and I couldn’t be happier with it. I have a couple friends trying to convert me over to Ableton but the value is incomparable. The scripting stuff is amazing, and I might use it for video some day, but as long as they keep the download small, the startup time fast, and the workflow pretty straightforward, they’ve got a customer for life. Keep the upgrades comin’.

4 Likes
#23

I’ve always known the benefits of a robust multitrack set-up but never had the wherewithal / workflow in place to actually record that way, but the time has come. I spent the morning going back through some Kenny Gioia tutorials to help me set up a new project template and my excitement is building. Being able to easily route / group in the tracks and have it make sense visually is actually making me look forward to a workflow I once felt was too complicated.

reaper template
reaper template1920×1000 450 KB

4 Likes
#24

Anyone used the Tracker “Hackey Tracker” yet?

Wondered how well it runs.

3 Likes
#25

Just found out about this free (as in freedom and beer) EQ for Reaper (JS format, so Reaper only) and I’m impressed:

It’s got a lot of advanced features and things I was previously missing in Reaper (like LR / MS EQ). They say it borrows a lot from Fabfilter’s EQ plugin, so now I’m very inclined to check that one out more closely as well.

7 Likes
#26

That EQ is great! I almost never use VSTs so I’m glad to have such a useful EQ for Reaper.

#27

Howdy! If you feel like going into the sound on sound territory with Reaper (or reajs vst wrapper), a simple js:delay can be supercharged into a sos beast!

If you set the 24th line of code in the js plugin like this:
delaylen=min(slider1 * srate / 1000,4000000);

then your buffer length would be up to a minute! Pair that with careful feedback patching, decent tape emulation or any fx, and a master limiter to protect your speakers, headphones and ears - and you’ve got yourself a nice virtual tape that sounds (to my ears) very close to a real deal. The feedback inside the js:delay should be at zero in this case, as you would be managing feedback outside of the plugin (with levels, compression, etc).

Of course you can use it as clean sos delay. With feedback at zero it will just layer whatever sounds you feed into it, with no decay.

Many many tracks of mine were based around this little delay, but with a 10 seconds buffer. 1 minute opens up a whole world of possibilities.

6 Likes
#28

The other day someone told me Reaper is by the people behind Winamp, which makes me love it even more :heart:

2 Likes
#29

Indeed, Reaper really whips the llama’s ass.

3 Likes